The present invention relates to a combined electric/manual folding door whereby a narrow width opening can be opened to a maximum, and entry and exit of a wheelchair or the like is facilitated.
Heretofore, in the case where an electric door is provided in a house of a handicapped person or in a hospital or in a toilet of a hospital, in general a sliding door which uses a sense switch or the like is provided.
However, in the case where a sliding door is provided, a door receptacle of an equivalent or greater width than that of the opening is necessary. Therefore in the case of refitting a standard house for a handicapped person, or in a narrow place for a toilet or the like in a hospital, there is the difficult situation of maintaining the dimensions of the door receptacle.
To address this problem, in order to make the overall dimension including the door receptacle smaller, there has also been developed an electric sliding door incorporating a suspension type two panel electrically operated door. However in this case also, in order to install the door, the door receptacle overall dimension must be at least that for one panel of the electrically operated door plus the dimension of the opening.
Consequently, in cases where it is not possible to provide an electric sliding door in a house or a hospital and the like, due to the building construction, then in order to ensure maximum width of the opening, either an electrically operated standard hinged must be used or an electric folding door such as used in an operating theater must be used. An electric folding door is one where the side edges of two door panels are connected so as to be foldable, and is opened by folding the two door panels.
However, in the electric hinged door, the turning range of the door when opening and closing is wide. Hence there is a problem of safety, such as where a user is bumped.
Furthermore, in the electric folding door, while the movement range of the door is less than for the electric hinged door, in the case where this is used by someone other than a wheelchair user, since this is electric, there is an inconvenience due to difficulty in manually opening and closing. Furthermore, due to high cost with the complex construction, this is not suitable for a toilet or the like in a hospital, or in a home.
The present invention takes into consideration the above situation with the object of providing a combined electric/manual folding door wherein the moving range of the door while opening and closing is small, opening and closing is easy for both a wheelchair user and a non-handicapped person, and construction is simple with low cost.
In order to achieve the above object, a combined electric/manual folding door of the present invention comprises: a first door with one edge rotatably supported by a pivot, a second door foldably connected to an other edge of the first door, a turning member connected to the second door, and a turning mechanism for turning the turning member.
With such a construction, when a force is applied to the turning member from the turning mechanism, or when a force is applied to the second door by hand, the whole folding door folds in a V-shape about the connecting portion, so that the second door is drawn to the first door which turns about the pivot, to thereby open the door. Consequently, it is not necessary to ensure a door receptacle, and the moving range for each door panel is reduced. Moreover, an operating feeling close to that for a sliding door is obtained.
If the second door is made wider than the first door, then opening and closing by hand can be performed even easier.
The turning member may be connected via a slide mechanism so that a connection point of the first and second doors is able to move freely along a widthwise direction of the second door. With such a construction, the connection point between the turning member and the second door changes for the fully opened condition and the fully closed condition. That is, when opened from the fully closed condition, the connection point can be made to approach the moveable connecting portion between each door. Furthermore, when closed from the fully open condition, the connection point can be separated from the moveable connecting portion. Consequently, the drive torque necessary for the closing operation is reduced, and the closing operation also is positive and smooth.
The turning member may comprise a first rotation rod which is turned by the turning mechanism, and a second rotation rod for connecting the first rotation rod to the second door. In this case, since the second door and the first rotation rod do not become right angled during opening and closing, the door can be smoothly opened and closed by hand.
The turning mechanism for driving the turning member may have a sensor for sensing a load applied to the second door during manual opening and closing, and when this sensor senses the load, the turning mechanism may assist manual opening and closing. With this construction, not only can the folding door be automatically opened and closed by electricity using an opening/closing switch or a person sensor or the like, but it is also possible to assist the opening and closing electrically during manual opening and closing. Furthermore, at the time of a power failure when automatic opening and closing with electricity is not possible, manual opening and closing is performed.